Hawks bounce back, Tigers winning tough but what’s the go with Melbourne? Each week, the AFL throws up new talking points and issues, most of which would be discussed around the water cooler in the office or over a coffee at smoko.
Round 2 of the 2013 season is no exception with plenty of happenings, both positive and negative for all 18 clubs involved.
Below are three positives and a couple of negatives I feel became apparent from the fallout of the weekend’s games.
Optimism: Hawthorn’s win in Perth
Last season’s runners-up sent a massive warning to the rest of the league with their 50-point mauling of my preseason fancies West Coast.
The Hawks jumped out of the blocks with a six-goal-to-one first quarter and did not look back, adding a further five in the second, four in the third and a massive eight in the last to end up with 23.10 in a clinical display.
Lance Franklin bounced back from a rare down day in the narrow loss to Geelong by snagging five goals whilst Cyril Rioli was almost as productive with four goals of his own along with Luke Bruest who threw off his round 1 yips to add four to his tally.
Sam Mitchell was arguably best on the field, producing another 30-plus possession game, and returning skipper Luke Hodge didn’t miss a beat with 25 touches.
Alastair Clarkson was delighted with his players, who led by just 19 points at the last break, and rightly so as the optimism of last year is back after succumbing for a tenth straight time to the Cats last week.
Hawthorn play Collingwood at the MCG on Sunday, which is another big test, and should tell us a lot more about the resolve of Clarkson’s men, especially after the Pies held off arch rivals Carlton to record their second win of the season.
Richmond’s newfound ability to win the close ones
Richmond made it two from two with a hard-fought 17-point triumph over a dogged St Kilda on Friday night.
Jack Riewoldt again haunted the Saints with a seven-goal haul to lead the Tigers to a victory which came after they were tested at various stages by Scott Watters’ side.
Last year, Richmond lost a handful of close matches which cost them a spot in the finals but so far in 2013 they have held off a fast-finishing Carlton by five points and controlled the game when they needed to in order to get the points over the Saints.
It appears to be a new era under Damien Hardwick with the way his charges go about it, implementing a different type of resolve that we are not used to when mentioning the Tigers, and it could get even better when they meet the Western Bulldogs on Sunday.
However, their steadfastness will genuinely be tested in the next three rounds as they prepare to take on Collingwood, Fremantle away and Geelong.
The improvement of Gold Coast and GWS
Already we have seen this year that expansion clubs Gold Coast Suns and GWS Giants have improved dramatically.
Sure, there are still going to be some blowouts as the Giants experienced when they eventually lost by 56 points to Port Adelaide on Saturday after only trailing by 16 at the major break but that is to be expected from such inexperienced players.
The Giants made reigning Premiers Sydney work for their Round 1 win and again made their opponents in the Power toil early after kicking four goals to two in the first quarter before they succumbed to Ken Hinkley’s side.
There is plenty to like about Kevin Sheedy’s outfit and their early-season form suggests they will only continue to develop at a rapid rate.
The Suns backed up their Round 1 triumph over the Saints by getting within seven goals of the Swans in the day they unfurled their 2012 flag at the SCG.
With superstar Gary Ablett well down on his usual output, it was refreshing to see the likes of Jaeger O’Meara (in just his second game), Charlie Dixon (three goals) and Dion Prestia (22 disposals) lead the way as the Suns trailed by just 22 points at the final break before the Swans quality got them over the line with six final-quarter goals.
Both of the new clubs are showing that they are really not that far off it now and will only continue to get better as each week passes.
Pessimism: Melbourne Football Club
An unbelievably insipid effort from the Demons led to their 148-point thrashing at the hands of Essendon.
It appeared that a high percentage of Mark Neeld’s players did not even want to have a crack for the club when the going got tough when the Dons started to get on top.
It is hard to pinpoint why exactly they have been smashed so badly by Port then the Bombers, kicking just 13 goals in two games, but surely they aren’t actually this bad?
Are they?
Devoid of foot skills that resemble anything near an AFL team, the Demons completely capitulated on Saturday night – so much so that some Essendon supporters actually began to leave the MCG during the third quarter in embarrassment.
At times, it was hard to watch and I hope for the sake of the fans that Neeld and the playing group can start afresh this week and put in something of a contest when the Eagles come to town next weekend.
Malthouse and Carlton lose to Collingwood and Buckley
Only from a arch-nemesis perspective is this a slight negative for Carlton.
The Blues performed admirably and certainly had their chances to win it but were overrun by a Pies side which is still yet to fully click.
Carlton could not make Collingwood pay after Darren Jolly left the field with a rib/lung injury, leaving Quinten Lynch, and even Nick Maxwell, to go up against the dominant Matthew Kreuzer and Sam Rowe, however, the Blues only shaded the Pies 40-37 in clearances.
Mick Malthouse would have absolutely loved to have gotten one over Collingwood but Nathan Buckley’s selfless side got the job done with unlikely heroes Jamie Elliott (five goals) and Sam Dwyer (23 touches) stepping up when Dane Swan and Scott Pendlebury were not at their usual damaging best.
Bogga
Guest
Great analysis Andrew, Essendon's game plan hasn't changed much: Win the 50-50, everybody sprint toward the goal, overwhelm the defence. When they lose the 50-50, they bleed goals. When they tire late in the game, they bleed goals. When they tire late in the season, they miss finals. Everybody laughed when Melbourne weren't manning the 4 Essendon players in the square, but nobody pointed out that Essendon only needed one, maybe two people to be there. Why did the other two run toward a goalsquare which already had two team-mates in it? What would happen if it was turned over up-field? Those 4 players would have been 30 metres from their opponents. I think Essendon will make the finals this year, just, but the hamstrings, calves and quads will start popping, the endurance will deplete as the season wears on and it will be a shell of an Essendon side that plays and loses their first final. It's almost too predictable. It's great to see GWS and GC's improvement, they've both been surprise packets. Hawthorn have one of (most likely the) most talented side in the competition. Unfortunately, they need the mentally strong Hodge and Mitchell firing. Without both of them, the team is hot and cold too often. Richmond will be found out, just like Carlton last year. St Kilda are on the way out, still using a game plan which doesn't suit the team. They'll beat the dogs, then lose the next 3, then all this talk can be done away with. 9th.
TomC
Roar Guru
I think GWS have been competitive in patches, but they were competitive in patches last season. We'll see. Haven't made up my mind yet.
Andrew Slevison
Roar Rookie
Cheers TomC. GWS looking more competitive than they were and Gold Coast's improvement is fairly substantial. Paul, if the Dons beat Freo on Friday, or perform well and get close, I will then give them their due credit.
TomC
Roar Guru
Good article, Slevo. Agree with how impressive Hawthorn were on Sunday. Clinical is the right word. Not sure on Richmond though. Sure the wins were close, but I wouldn’t say they ran out either of those games particularly impressively. Should beat the Dogs next week, then they play Collingwood, Freo and Geelong. If they’re 4-2 after six rounds they’ll be well placed, I think. Gold Coast have a big opportunity to knock off the Lions at Metricon this weekend, and then Port the week after that. Then they play GWS away. It’s not inconceivable they could begin the season with four wins from five games, and wouldn’t that be something? Not sold on the GWS 2013 model being all that much better than 2012 just yet, but they have a chance of being competitive this weekend against St Kilda at Manuka. My gut feeling is that they might get blown away, but we’ll see. Not really much more to be said about Melbourne. I think Collingwood’s win over Carlton was just a case of quality showing through at the end. I was impressed by the Blues but ultimately the Maggies had more match winners out there. Pendlebury recovering from a quiet game to do some important things late was pretty indicative.
Paul
Guest
How about giving the Bombers a bit of creidt for the result. People are talking like anyone could have won by 25 goals. Improvement from Carlisle and Hibberd down back, Heppell, Howlett and Bellchambers in the midfield along wtih the return of Zaharakis from Injury and the recruitment of Goddard has the bombers looking like a genuine finals side. Good signs in the 2s with 5 goals to Daniher and 3 to Gumbleton, BOG to Jetta shows some good depth.
Milo
Guest
No arguments from me, but as one who has also holidayed in September since 2001, I will remain sceptical and maybe even a tad pessimistic to deal with the perennial crash that usually comes at some point. In the meantime I guess we'll have to deal with the fingernails down to the quick each week...
Andrew Slevison
Roar Rookie
Yeah good point Milo. The point I was making that in seasons past, they would have lost both of those games. Certainly the Bulldogs at full tilt will test Richmond but there is certainly room for improvement after two wins which is a major plus.
Milo
Guest
Richmond's wins have been a result of good luck as much as anything. Friday night's game against the Saints was full of errors and against a better side the Tigers would have struggled to get within five goals. A hard charging Western Bulldogs team full of run with nothing to lose may test Richmond more than the hot and cold Blues and the downwardly travelling Saints.